A Brechtian perspective on London Road: Class representations, dialectics and the ‘gestic’ character of music from stage to screen

Article


Stamatiou, E. 2019. A Brechtian perspective on London Road: Class representations, dialectics and the ‘gestic’ character of music from stage to screen. Studies in Musical Theatre. 13 (3), pp. 287-298. https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00007_1
AuthorsStamatiou, E.
Abstract

This article uses Brechtian philosophy to assess the role of music and song in the audience reception of the ‘verbatim musical’ London Road. The first section analyses class representations in London Road, with a particular focus on the dialectics and the ‘gestic’ role of the music and song. The second section explores how the adaptation from stage to screen further affects the dialectics of the musical and, paradoxically, serves key Brechtian aims. I focus on two dramaturgical changes in the adaptation from stage to screen: the chronological order of the narrative and the alternation of interview sections and dramatized sections, which resembles the structure of the popular drama-doc genre. Given that reordering and restaging the original verbatim numbers affected audience reception, I analyse the way the meaning is affected through the Brechtian notions of alienation and the gestic character of music. Throughout, I discuss class representations and relevant dialectical implications.

KeywordsBrecht; class representation; dialectics; musical theatre; screen adaptation; verbatim musical
JournalStudies in Musical Theatre
Journal citation13 (3), pp. 287-298
ISSN1750-3159
Year2019
PublisherIntellect Press
Accepted author manuscript
License
File Access Level
Anyone
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00007_1
Publication dates
Online01 Dec 2019
Publication process dates
Deposited10 Jan 2023
Copyright holder© 2019 The Author
Additional information

The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Studies in Musical Theatre, 13 (3), Dec 2019, p. 287 - 298. https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00007_1

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